Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared in a video on Wednesday greeting fighters in Belarus and telling them they were no longer taking part in the fighting in Ukraine.
Members of Russia’s private Wagner militia have started training Belarusian special forces soldiers at a military barracks within firing range of NATO member Poland, Belarus’ defense ministry said on Thursday amid the Ukraine war.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared in a video on Wednesday in which he greeted the fighters in Belarus, telling them they would no longer take part in the fighting in Ukraine and urging them to rally their troops for Africa while they formed the Belarusian army.
“The Belarusian Armed Forces continue joint training with Wagner fighters,” the Belarusian Defense Ministry announced. “This week, the units of the special forces will train in combat with representatives of the company at the military compound in Brest,” the ministry added.
“A Changing Situation”
Wagner’s paramilitaries are stationed less than five kilometers from the Polish border. Belarus released footage of militia officers with their faces covered training Belarusian soldiers using armored vehicles and what appear to be drone control devices.
Poland, a member of NATO since 1999, announced this month that it would send more than a thousand troops to the border with Belarus because Wagner fighter jets were stationed in that country. Poland’s Defense Ministry said borders are secure and the country is prepared for “different scenarios in a changing situation”.
“The aggressiveness of Poland”
In response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced “Poland’s aggressiveness” and described it as “a cause for concern”. “Such a hostile attitude towards Belarus and the Russian Federation requires close attention (from us),” he said.
The aborted mutiny by Wagner’s men in late June was seen as an unprecedented challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s power. For its part, the Kremlin reiterates that the people are united around their president and his army.
On June 24, an agreement was officially reached under the auspices of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, allowing paramilitaries to find sanctuary in Belarus, to reintegrate under the command of the Russian Defense Ministry or to return to their families.
“Business trip”
Wagner has lost 22,000 men since the start of the war in Ukraine, 40,000 have been injured and 10,000 of them will arrive in Belarus, according to a commander’s post shared by Wagner’s Telegram channel.
A total of 78,000 Wagner men took part in the so-called “Ukrainian business trip”, including 49,000 prisoners, according to the same publication by this commander, who responded to the combat name “Marx”.
Wagner helped Russia annex Crimea in 2014, capture the Ukrainian town of Bachmout last spring, and fight the Islamic State group in Syria. There are also branches in Central African Republic and Mali.